1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to the field of electronic power supplies.
More specifically, the invention relates to a switched and a smart switched tracking power supply that characterizes one or more predetermined electrical source characteristics of an input power source and modifies the characteristics of the output power supply based on the predetermined characteristics of the input source.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many existing electronic power supplies or power sources have output characteristics that vary over time and operating parameters. It is also common that electronic loads operating from these power sources monitor the power source output and perform housekeeping functions based on the source characteristics.
This invention herein implements circuitry in the form of a switched and a smart switched tracking power supply that permits the exchanging of a first power (e.g., originally used) source with a second power source that can supply an electronic load with a signal representative of the first power source. The input/output control parameters of the circuit of the invention may be parameters relating to power, voltage or current or a combination thereof.
As is known in electrical design arts, design tradeoffs exist between power source parameters such as power, size, output response characteristics, discharge curves, and costs. Design options may be limited whenever a substitute power source of different characteristics is needed.
Existing technology frequently utilizes a switching power supply to convert an input power source to an output power source of a different voltage. The invention implements circuitry that monitors the input power source of a switching power supply and modifies the output thereof based on the characteristics of the input source. The invention can be used to take advantage of numerous prior art switching power supply devices or can be implemented in the form of a discrete standalone switching power supply.
By way of example power sources such as batteries, photo-voltaic or thermopile devices are well-suited to take advantage of the power supply circuit of the invention.
A need exists for the output voltage of a switching type power supply to track the drop-in input voltage. As an example, portable devices exist where a first battery or power source with a first voltage or electronic characteristic must be substituted for a second battery source having a different voltage or electronic characteristic. In such instances, the load electronics may be “modeled” after the original source using the circuit of the invention which performs power management and source characterization functions based on the discharge voltage curve of the original source.